Chapter 36: Bedroom Atmosphere
The ocean underneath them was darkening the further they went, as the day dipped into evening.
Eric had been making sure to fly the car only a few hundred feet up, to keep everyone comfortable and well-oxygenated.
His Origin State wasn't as hard to maintain this time. Probably because of all the shit his body had been through by now had made him stronger.
They were moving quickly, at mach 3. The car was being protected by Eric's aura itself, which was reinforcing its internal and external structure.
They had been flying for about an hour, and it would be about another forty minutes before they'd reach land.
Eric stood up from his spot on top of the car, walking seamlessly on the air around the side of the car and downward while still propelling himself forward with the rest of the car.
His Origin state made this movement easy. He shuddered as he opened the left backseat door, awakening Violet, who had been laying on the right side.
He sat down.
And then he started talking.
"Okay. So the first order of business is getting you two," he said pointing at Kaori and Kousei, "home. The only way I can think of is to have you stay with us as we get ourselves established and then do this again. The flying car is surprisingly fast. I thought the drag was going to be more of an issue."
Kaori and Kousei thought on this for a moment.
Kousei's face scrunched up after a few seconds.
"Couldn't you guys just book a hotel room and then do it overnight?" Kousei interjected, making a solid point.
Eric looked at Violet, who was settling her head onto Eric's legs, laying back down.
She said only one thing before she fell back asleep, body still strained from the transformation; "That seems reasonab-"
And then she was out like a light.
She slept peacefully, despite the conversation that carried on while she slept, along with all of the noise generated by movement at mach 3.
"Wow, she must be exhausted. Did the transformation or teleporting really put that much stress on her body?" Eric thought to himself.
While Eric was lost in thought, he was poked by Kousei.
"What?" he asked.
"Where do you two even want to live? Somewhere like New York City?" Kousei said.
Eric made a face. "No no no. We'd run out of money very quickly if we lived there. And we have about $500,000 by my estimate. So NYC is definitely out of the equation. Violet loves nature and animals, so we'd need somewhere better suited to that."
The bond on her side warmed up, as if she knew that he was acting in her best interests, even now.
She smiled in her sleep, content.
Kaori thought for a moment, a brief silence spreading over the car's occupants.
"Eureka!" Kaori's mind lit up, an idea having been found.
"I've seen that the northern part of the US is pretty undeveloped and full of nature. Sure, it's a little cold, but that's the trade-off that's required, maybe? Surely there's one state up north you've wanted to visit? I saw Montana on a postcard a few months ago when we were in an international airport for the Nielsen competition. It was remarkably clean and beautiful. It would suit her nicely."
Eric took a few moments to absorb the information. He then pulled out his phone, and it showed their location, and nothing else. The gps satellite was pinging off his phone, and his phone was sending packets back in return.
He then noted the exact coordinates on google maps, writing them in on a digital memo.
He then put his phone down, shutting off the screen.
"And now we wait."
Eric was waiting to see which direction they were going. He knew that he was only going to get one shot at making it to a destination that far north before his body collapsed. He could feel a slight strain on his body, but that was because he had been controlling the outside of the car and the car's propulsion forward from the inside of it.
Eric, realizing this, got up, and climbed on top of the car once more.
He waited several minutes, the wind pushing its way around his body.
He then got his phone back out, and holding it very tightly, checked the coordinates again. Comparing the new ones to the ones in the digital memo, he found that they were moving south, towards Mexico.
Turning the car in a total of seventy-two degrees to the north, Eric corrected their course.
Except, his body wouldn't be able to hold out for the extra hour or so it would take to get there. Or at least not easily.
He needed to speed up the car while he still could, and have them ride the momentum until they got there. He could feel himself slowly weakening.
Slowly, but it was there.
"Increasing speed."
A vein bulged out in his forehead as they moved faster.
His blood pressure skyrocketed, and his heart rate increased significantly.
His body temperature started to go up.
He was overclocking his heart and body to rev up his Origin state to a point where he had immense control and still be moving faster.
He shoved his phone into a buttonable pocket and buttoned it.
The wind pushing past the car was howling in his ears. To be frank, it was only just annoying to Eric.
They were now sitting at around twice the speed they had been.
Mach 6.
Around 4,600 mph.
A truly bombastic speed.
Bombastic, because the occupants of the car were being slightly deafened by the roaring noise coming from outside.
But now Eric himself could relax slightly, and just focus on keeping the car in the air and moving straight.
He knew that at the end of the flight, he'd have to catch the car mid-fall and then get it moving very quickly. Because, in Eric's mind, the only suitable place to land would be a freeway far to the north, where few people would be threatened and they could actually see the ground, as the area would be bathed in light, as per state regulations.
And if he had to activate THE WORLD at the end of this stressful trip, he wasn't sure if he'd even be able to hold onto the time-stop to make a difference.
This was a true test of his power's practical applications.
But that part would naturally have to wait. And now that Eric could relax, he started to meditate, focusing in on the altitude and direction of the car.
By the time that they were above land, everyone was stressed out from all of the noise. But none of them could wake Violet or get a hold of Eric on his phone.
He was stuck meditating, for now.
They were stuck this way, for now.
Kousei searched through Violet's things and found several pairs of sound-canceling earbuds.
They wouldn't help much, but they might help protect their ears from the deafening noise.
And so the two of them put the earbuds in, putting another pair in Violet's ears and protecting her while she slept.
The two fell asleep, before much time had passed.
And then the alarm Kousei had set for himself mentally snapped him awake.
His eyes opened, and he felt the strain on his body immediately.
"Oh fuck. Time to land." He tried to not screw his eyes shut in pain, as waves of pins and needles wracked his body.
They descended quickly, Eric revving up his remaining power to the maximum extent that he still could.
He got up off of the roof of the car, getting underneath and bracing for impact.
He saw the almost airport-like streetlights, and aimed towards them.
He tensed up his legs as much as he could.
He roared; "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"
And his legs nearly shattered as his shins took the brunt of the force taken on by his feet.
Two small craters formed where his feet had been smashed into the ground.
Miraculously, he'd managed to keep the car and all of its occupants safe, not even letting the car touch the road yet.
Meanwhile inside the car, everyone had been awoken by the massive thud at the end of the journey.
Not even by Eric's voice. That would of hardly been audible over the screaming wind.
And finally, Violet woke up.
The car was gently placed onto the ground.
And then Eric passed out, landing on the soft ground on the side of the road.
Violet rushed from the car, making sure he was alright. Gathering him up into her arms, she carried him back to the car.
The money sat in the middle of the backseat. That had to be fixed before someone came across them.
Otherwise they might be suspected of something suspicious.
But all that Violet could do was open up the bag, and take some of the money out. If they needed a hotel room for four people, it wasn't gonna be cheap.
And evening was quickly turning into night. It was going to get much colder very soon.
So Kousei got on the road, and he drove.
A sign after about two minutes had the words 'Frenchtown- 2 miles' on it.
That meant that they were close to a town or city, and Kaori pointed out the sign that her partner might have missed.
The town turned out to be too small to have a hotel or motel, but there had been a helpful gas station worker that had pointed them in the direction of a good hotel.
There were many hotels to choose from near a place called Grant Creek.
And that's where they were now, after about forty-five minutes of driving.
And Eric woke up to his head in Violet's lap.
He was being shaken gently.
"Eric, honey, it's time to wake up." Her voice brought him out of his lull.
The money that had been in between them was gone.
"Hey. Just for clarification, where'd you put the money?" he asked.
"In your suitcase." Violet answered, without hesitation.
"Okay. Good. Thank you," he replied, rubbing his eyes.
Kousei was pulling into a parking lot. A grandiose light display lit up a moderately large hotel.
Kaori had looked it up on her phone, and the place's website said it didn't require a reservation.
They all got out after he parked, and framed in light, they retrieved their belongings and went inside.
Eric was exhausted and irritable. So Violet did all the talking, so he wouldn't snap at any poor hotel staff.
They got to their rooms, and went their separate ways.
As soon as the door was closed, Eric pounced on Violet, pinning her to the bed.
He felt her get excited from her side of the connection.
"Are you ready?" he asked, sultry and amused.
"When haven't I been?" was her only response.
Today was their birthday.
They were the only presents that the other needed.
When a journey comes to a close
A desperation forms
We want to surge forward
But the past is holding us in place
All of the negatives must be in balance
With everything positive
For peace to be found with any sort of grace
Life will move as it will.
Just like our characters.
Find out what happens next chapter.
Author's note: This chapter was super fun to write, so please review it!